Recently, I had an interesting discussion with my good friend AC Gaughen about what the “real world” actually is, and what it means to the authentic, uncommon individual. In her latest blog post, “I wonder what it’s like to be a rainmaker,” a response to my previous post “A Real World Encounter,” AC stated that she disagreed with the sense that the real world was a enemy, a trapping that kept us down and away from the lives we truly want. She wrote, “the real world is, in my opinion, the balance of wanting many things, sacrificing some things and compromising others.”
Interesting.
My initial reaction was to knee-jerk back and tell her she was wrong. “That isn’t what the real world is, that isn’t what it means – you’re drinking the real world Kool Aid, man!”
But then I stopped and thought about it. Why can’t that be what the real world means – to her? Who says that the idea of the “real world” always has to be something malevolent, something impersonal, something borderline fascist? I mean, I live in a real world – my perception of the world around me is real to me - it has shape, color, dimension, and as far as I can tell (and as much as I can hope), isn’t a figment of my imagination. So how is it anything but a real world?
Furthermore, by thrusting myperception of what the “real world” should be onto her and others, am I not just replacing that malevolent “real world” I fight daily against?
Don’t get me wrong, fellow Uncommoners, I believe in the presence of the 9-5, ‘play by the rules,’ “real world” completely – its out there. I’ve experienced it, and I’ve met a lot of other people who have also experienced it. It is thrust upon people before they have a sense to establish a personal real world, it is the societal default. But once you stop letting that version of the “real world” affect your choices and direct your path, you have the power to craft your own definition of what the real world is, and will be for you. It is the liberated “real world” vision, and it is something completely unique to you.
It is actually an integral part of defining your uncommon life. It is part of the process of removing the old, prepackaged structure and philosophy and replacing it with something authentic and meaningful to you.
So while the “real world” as a trapping and wing-clipping force is still out there, it can be replaced by an individualized vision of your real world that is true to you and your goals. Your “real world” can be malleable, shift over time, amend and grow as you do – it is a personal credo, a life perception. It places a contradictory role as both the bane and life force of the Uncommon Life. AC has already defined hers, and I have defined mine (see previous post for details).
Have you thought about what the new, liberated sense of the “real world” means to you?
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Twitter: evanhadkins
Each of us negotiates the real world and makes our own part of it (to some extent).
This means that the real world contains an adventure – an invitation to find out what we can do.
Even our perceptions change (as you learn music for instance you begin to hear more).
Me and the real world (the big one or my part of it) are not separate.
real world has both aspects good n bad its up to us what we c nice blog